Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and can't get money for this, but I can make him into a Mafia Prince.
Warning: Some chapters (the ones including pranks) might not be appropriate to read at work. Laughter may ensue leading your co-workers to see you as even more insane than they previously thought.
Chapter 24: A Gift and Pranks
Harry was just slipping his knife under his pillow when his hand encountered something and the wrinkling of paper could distinctly be heard. Cautiously Harry examined the thin parcel that had been slipped under his pillow. It was wrapped in ordinary brown paper and tied with a piece of twine; a handy revealing spell Harry had found in a charms book showed that there were no hexes, jinxes, or curses on the package. With a slight shrug Harry used his dagger to slit the twine and allowed it to drop to the floor before folding back the first edge of the paper to reveal a note.
Harry, your father left this in my care and as I once gave my word I am passing this on to you. Be careful in its use, such things are not to be abused.
His curiosity now spiked Harry ripped into the paper, opening the rest of the package, and a silvery gray cloak fell into a fluid pile on his bed. It seemed to shimmer in the light of the fire and felt like soft silk in his hands, it was like water. Such a beautiful thing his father had left him and obviously something of great use if the sender was warning him about abusing it. It wasn't until Harry slipped the cloak on and looked in the mirror to see how it looked upon him that the importance and hidden power of the gift became clear to him. In the mirror he could see nothing more than his disembodied head floating in midair. An invisibility cloak. It would make a most excellent secret weapon. With a smirk Harry tucked it securely away in his trunk before climbing into bed and drawing his curtains like all his roommates had done before him, this was one gift he planned on abusing no matter what the sender had to say about it. Sure he could turn himself invisible without the cloak, but it was tiring and he couldn't hold the spell for too long. If sneaking around the castle had been relatively easy before it had just now gotten easier.
… … … … …
Classes were speeding up in intensity as the teachers began to work the students harder. Well most of the classes anyhow, Binns still droned on in his ghostly monotone and Quirrell's stutter seemed to have gotten even worse if possible. Harry and Blaise still found their lessons to be easy even with the increased workload though it tended to take Blaise a little longer to work a spell than Harry. It was clear that even as a first year Harry had incredible power, and except for two other people no one knew he could perform wandless magic and thus no one could truly comprehend the whole of Harry's growing magical reserves. Yet as any true Slytherin would do Harry downplayed his skills and did not perform to his fullest extent, he also did not reveal the full extent of the knowledge he possessed of spells and magical theory.
So after Harry and Blaise finished their assignments with quick efficiency they were left with free time in which they trained; continued their exploration of the castle and stumbled upon the numerous passageways, many by complete accident; played pranks; and combed the library for useful spells, hexes, jinxes, and enchantments they could put to use. The way their individual studying was going they would be on par with the knowledge held by students beginning their third year by the time they were done with their first year, as well they would know the more advanced incantations they had discovered in the library. Over the summer Harry had griped about the work Trevor had laid upon him and Blaise, but a feeling deep inside him told him that one day he would be thankful for all this studying. But enough was enough for now.
"I'm going to grab one last book to take with us and then we have some pranks to plan," Harry told Blaise as he stood from their secluded table and began to expertly negotiate his way through the stacks.
Each class had its own section of the library as well as the restricted section and a section of works that fit no select category. Determined to get as much out of Hogwart's library as they could Harry and Blaise had come up with a spell that listed the books in each section on a piece of charmed parchment. Then once they read a book they checked it off and turned the title into a link, similar to ones used on a computer, where they added a brief summary of key points the book held that they could use for future reference. Reaching the generalized section Harry pulled out his piece of parchment and tapped the symbol they had assigned to those shelves.
Immediately writing spider-webbed over the paper and Harry scanned through the book titles on the shelf, glancing occasionally at his list as he tried to find a book that caught his attention. Naturally a book finally caught his emerald gaze but the book had no title or author, and the pages were blank. It was not on the list either. If Harry hadn't sensed the magic contained within the blue and silver bound book he would have thought it a journal someone had mistakenly left behind and never used. Snatching up a random book Harry also grabbed the blank one and concealed it in his pocket; he would share it with Blaise later but didn't think he should check it out with Madam Pince. He was sure it wasn't a part of the library and wanted to discover what it was by himself.
… … … … …
Blaise turned and glared at the twins who were sneaking along behind them, the whole group was dressed completely in black and the twins had tried to pull off a muggle commando look for this mission.
"Shut it," she hissed warningly, "do you want the teachers to catch us?"
They were currently trying to sneak past the teacher's lounge where a meeting was going on. Harry had been tempted to stop and listen to see what the teachers were saying, but the risk of getting caught was too high and they had plans to see through while the professors were otherwise occupied. Besides, Dumbledore had that uncanny way of knowing when someone was around him. He had known it was Harry at the door of his office the one time Harry had been sent there after trying to transfigure a gossipy Gryffindor into a Dodo bird, he probably would have succeeded too except McGonagall had overheard part of the spell. But that could be explained by warning spells or a teacher telling Dumbledore to be expecting him. What had unsettled Harry was the day he had holed up in a hidden alcove when he had heard someone coming, he was trying to see how long he could go before Blaise found him, and even though no one could see into the alcove except by stepping into it the headmaster had known he was there.
The old coot had called out a cheerful, "Hello there Harry, I hope you are well," and went on his way without another word or explanation on how he had known Harry was there.
Once safely past the teachers lounge Harry and Blaise smoothly straightened and began to move swiftly down the hall, the twins following their example with a bit more clumsiness. This plan was a bit late being put into action, it was a Halloween care kit after all, but neither Harry nor Blaise were about to let the toilet paper and sticky string go to waste. For that fact they were dying to use the spray paint as well, a handy charm had ensured that most removal spells and potions would be ineffective against their artwork. Too bad they didn't have any eggs, but they would have rotted if Manuel sent them in the package, and Harry and Blaise still didn't know how to get to the kitchens though the twins had promised to show them some time. It was time that Hogwarts was hit with new pranks—muggle style.
Toilet paper flew across the various classrooms and Fred and George seemed to get as much sticky string on them as the room did. Graffiti soon decorated some of the walls as well in either random scrawling or a few drawings and crude remarks. Fred and George seemed to be using a lot of the red and gold spray paint which worked fine for Harry and Blaise; they would gladly let the blame land on Gryffindor if the twins were daring enough to use their house colors. They also added personal touches to each classroom.
In the transfiguration classroom the twins left a dirty litter box, Harry didn't want to know where they got the poop from. Flitwick's door was rigged so that the feathers he seemed fond of using during their lessons on charms would fall and stick to him, the magical version of tarred and feathered. In Quirrell's classroom they left a few blood-like stains on the desk and a snake curled up on the chair. The twins didn't ask how Harry had gotten a snake or kept from being bitten while handling it, and thankfully weren't around to hear Harry hiss at the snake to stay on the chair until the 'stinky man' came in and then scare him. Binns was a tough one but they finally decided to put a mirror up on his desk in hopes that the dry professor would realize he was a ghost and finally pass on. In the astronomy tower they blackened the eyes pieces and sprinkled silver glitter on the telescope lenses for kicks.
The only classrooms Harry and Blaise hadn't planned on hitting was the greenhouses, it was too much hassle to go outside for a prank like this, and the potions classroom. They knew Snape had wards up around the dungeons and while their head of house no longer chased them down when they left the dungeons at night he would get suspicious if the wards across the hallway near his classroom went off. As it was Harry and Blaise often used the passageway behind the portrait of Lady Alyssa which wasn't warded since Lady Alyssa wasn't supposed to let anyone in through there except Severus, the password had been changed since the troll incident much to the dismay of many Slytherin students who had been planning on sneaking out that way.
Actually most of the Slytherins couldn't find where the doorway was anyhow because from the inside of the Slytherin common room it was merely a blank stone wall and they had come to the conclusion that it was only a one way deal; the only clue that there was a door there at all was the tiny carving of a snake near the floor that happily responded to Harry's whispers in parseltongue. The parseltongue also worked quiet well on Lady Alyssa as well, who as it turned out was the great-great-great-granddaughter of Salazar Slytherin himself.
But Fred and George surprised them once again and proved that they hadn't been considered Hogwart's number one pranksters for nothing. They had found a passageway that got them around the wards Severus had set.
"He only places the wards across the entrances to the hallways," Fred was explaining, "and he couldn't ward this passageway because we know he doesn't know about it yet."
"The classroom is also unwarded," George picked up the explanation, "because the older students, mainly Slytherins, are allowed to use the classrooms for brewing when they need to for a project and it would take too much energy to keep setting and unraveling the wards around the classroom. That, and there is also a chance that the protective magic could cause reactions with the magical nature of the potions."
Harry gave the twins an odd look, "how do you know all this? Eavesdropping?"
The twins grinned back at him, "we prefer the phrase listening into conversations that we couldn't help but overhear and putting the knowledge spoken of to good use."
Blaise shook her head and muttered something that sounded like, "long-winded idiots."
They had just slipped back into the secret passage the twins had led them through to get past the dungeon wards when Snape came down the hall as he headed towards his personal chambers. The meeting was over then. Nodding a silent farewell to the twins Harry and Blaise slipped quietly through the dungeons towards the back entrance to the Slytherin common room. Lady Alyssa let them in on sight with a discreet wink and Harry and Blaise managed to sneak back into their dorms without waking anyone. Harry smiled as he fell asleep, thinking of the pastel colors that now decorated the cool stone walls of the potions classroom. And boy would Severus be enraged when he found out what the Weasley twins had left him. Harry didn't hate or even dislike the potions professor like most of the other students in the school did, he actually genuinely liked the man, but he would be among the first to admit that Severus Snape was prime pranking material.